By Sarah Becker

Copyright (c)2026 Sarah Becker

“Our history…clearly shows that people-powered, morally grounded movements are how we end authoritarianism,” No Kings officials explained. “Each time we show up, we disrupt President Trump’s attempts to rule through repression and remind the country, and the world, that people power is our path to a truly free America.”

Established in 2025, the No Kings movement was organized by self-described progressives including Indivisible’s Leah Greenburg and Ezra Levin; 50501 fifty protests, fifty states, one movement; grantors and donors. The movement’s first protest rally was June 14, 2025. Its third: March 28, 2026.

The 2026 protest included 8 million people from 50 states and 3,300 cities.  Former U.S Ambassador now U.S. Representative Don Beyer [VA-8] was there. As were others from maga-red cities like Renea Gamble’s Fairhope, Alabama. NATO countries including France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and the United Kingdom protested from afar.

Revolutionary War Commander-in-chief George Washington was among the first to speak to the matter of “people power.” It was on the heels of his Continental army’s 1781 Yorktown victory that he decided “people power” was indeed “the path to a truly free America.” Civility was needed, yes.  As was the overdue payment of soldier’s salaries.

“From several conversations I have had with officers, & some I have overheard among soldiers,” Colonel Lewis Nicola wrote Washington on May 22, 1782, “I believe it is sincerely intended not to separate after the peace ’till all grievances are redressed, engagements & promises fulfilled, but how this is to be done I am at a loss, as neither officers or soldiers can have any confidence in promises. We have no doubt of Congresses intention to act uprightly, but greatly fear that, by the interested views of others, their abilities will not be equal to the task.”

Lewis Nicola was an Irish-born author, Philadelphia merchant and member of the American Philosophical Society: a military officer who served in a variety of military capacities, “With a British attack on Philadelphia apparently imminent” author James McIntyre explained, “Nicola worked diligently to strengthen the city’s defenses.”

In 1782, while writing to Washington about the overall of Constitutional government, Colonel Nicola penned: “Some people have so connected the ideas of tyranny & monarchy as to find it very difficult to separate them, it may therefore be requisite to give the head of such a constitution as I propose, some title apparently more moderate, but if all other things were once adjusted I believe strong arguments might be produced for admitting the title of king, which I conceive would be attended with some material advantages.”

“With a mixture of great surprise & astonishment I have read with attention the Sentiments you have submitted to my perusal,” Washington angrily replied. “Be assured, Sir, no occurrence in the course of the War, has given me more painful sensations than your information of there being such ideas existing in the Army as you have expressed, & I must view with abhorrence, and reprehend with severity.”

“I am much at a loss to conceive what part of my conduct could have given encouragement to an address which to me seems big with the greatest mischiefs that can befall my Country,” Washington continued. “If I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable—at the same time in justice to my own feeling I must add, that no man possesses a more sincere wish to see ample Justice done to the Army than I do, and as far as my powers & influence, in a constitution[al] way extend, they shall be employed to the utmost of my abilities to effect it, should there be any occasion—Let me [conj]ure you then, if you have any regard for your Country, concern for yourself or posterity—or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your Mind, & never communicate, as from yourself, or anyone else, a sentiment of the like nature.”

America’s war with Britain began with the Battle of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts in 1775. Not long after, residents in each of the 13 colonies came to despise Parliament’s politics. Independence was declared in 1776. To the colonists collective dismay, the war continued and the economic consequences became a burden. The colonies 1781 Articles of Confederation lacked substance, and the June 21, 1788, U.S. Constitution had yet to be ratified.

Wrote Ambassador to France Thomas Jefferson to Washington on May 2, 1788: “There are two things [about the proposed constitution] which I dislike strongly. 1. The want of a declaration of rights. I am in hopes the opposition of Virginia will remedy this, and produce such a declaration. 2. The perpetual re-eligibility of the President. This I fear will make that an office for life first, and then hereditary. I was much an enemy to monarchy before I came to Europe. I am ten thousand times more so since I have seen what they are. There is scarcely an evil known in these countries which may not be traced to their king as it’s source, nor a good which is not derived from the small fibres of republicanism existing among them. I can further say with safety there is not a crowned head in Europe whose talents or merit would entitle him to be elected a vestryman by the people of any parish in America. However, I shall hope that before there is danger of this change taking place in the office of President, the good sense and free spirit of our countrymen will make the changes necessary to prevent it. Under this hope I look forward to the general adoption of the new constitution.”

My question to you, the reader: to what extent, if any, are we citizens of the 50 United States, experiencing a Presidential dilemma, an ongoing Constitutional crisis.  Article 2, Section 1, U.S. Constitution: “Before he enters on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

George Washington became America’s first elected President in 1789. In 1969 President Richard Nixon [R-CA, 1969-1974] declared Memorial Day a day of prayer for permanent peace.” In this, America’s 250th year, take time on May 25th to pay homage to our fallen soldiers. Alexandria’s Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier is located on the grounds of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, 323 S. Fairfax Street, Old Town Alexandra.

About the Author: Sarah Becker started writing for The Economist while a graduate student in England. Similar publications followed. She joined the Crier in 1996 while serving on the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association Board. Her interest in antiquities began as a World Bank hire, with Indonesia’s need to generate hard currency. Balinese history, i.e. tourism provided the means. The New York Times describes Becker’s book, Off Your Duffs & Up the Assets, as “a blueprint for thousands of nonprofit managers.” A former museum director, SLAM’s saving grace Sarah received Alexandria’s Salute to Women Award in 2007. Email abitofhistory53@gmail.com